Hiawatha

Location and General Characteristics

The Hiawatha neighborhood is located along the southeastern border of Minneapolis and is part of the Longfellow community. The neighborhood is named for its elementary school, Hiawatha. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the American poet born in 1807, made the names Hiawatha and Minnehaha famous in his poem,
The Song of Hiawatha. The neighborhood extends from 40
th Street on the north to 54
th Street East on the south, and from the Mississippi River on the east to Hiawatha Avenue on the west and south. The light-rail transit line runs along Hiawatha Avenue, connecting downtown Minneapolis to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the Mall of America in Bloomington. Minnehaha Avenue runs parallel to Hiawatha Avenue and clusters mixed and commercial uses, unlike the rest of the neighborhood with its mainly single-family houses. One-third of the neighborhood's area is open land: parks, including Minnehaha Park, and the Mississippi River's Lock and Dam Number 1.

A statue in Minnehaha Park near Minnehaha Creek reminds us of Longfellow's story about the life of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and his love, Minnehaha. Minnehaha means "laughing waters" in the Dakota language and is also the name of the creek's 53-foot waterfall nearby.